Saturday, May 04, 2013

That's the Independent High Electoral Commission's webpage in Arabic. Hacked.

Today the IHEC released the final results of the vote. Provincial elections were held in 12 of Iraq's 18 provinces last month. Let's drop back to last Saturday:

In addition, Alsumaria notes
that MP Iman al-Moussawi (also with the Sadr bloc) states that Nouri
pressured the Electoral Commission to change the votes. These charges
were made during the 2010 recounts and there was validity to them. If a
few votes were changed this go round, this is major because in all but
one province State of Law won, it did not win huge majorities. In
Wasit, for example, it beat Amar al-Hakim's Islamic Supreme Council of
Iraq by 2% -- Wasit had charges of voter fraud and had a huge number of
voters turned away two Saturdays ago when security forces were doing
early voting. There's even dispute as to whether State of Law comes
in first in eight provinces. Some outlets are claiming it's only
seven. If the IHEC would publish their totals -- as they were supposed to already do -- it would eliminate a great deal of confusion.

Guess what?

Some outlets were right. The Iraqi media reporting seven provinces last Saturday as the western outlets continued to report eight? The Iraqi media was right. Reuters noted the 8 provinces last week and, because they're such good sports, gave State of Law a ninth province.

But that wasn't reality was it?

Even AFP notes today it's 7 provinces that State of Law won; "[h]owever, no list won a majority of seats in any of the provinces." Al Mada's a lot more forthcoming. In Baghdad, for example, Nouri's State of Law held 28 seats. This election reduced it to 20.

Remember when the western media was telling us this election would be a test for how popular Nouri was?

I do too.

The election results were never going to tell any such thing. We said it then. These are the equivalent of local and state elections. But if they wanted to apply it to any province, Baghdad would be the one to go with. In Baghdad, Nouri is local.

State of Law was supposed to sweep the elections proving Nouri was popular. No. Nouri was not on the ballot. I would love to be able to say "Ha! Nouri lost!" I would love to. But it's not true. He was not on the ballot.

It is a measure of State of Law members running in provincial races being unable to connect very well. Especially alarming when 2010 saw State of Law's support from strictly Shi'ites and this election had a large Shi'ite turnout. Whatever the political slate is doing, it is not connecting on a local level.

These are disaster results for State of Law. In a few months, the KRG will vote (three provinces). State of Law has no support in the KRG. That's be 15 of Iraq's two provinces. Supposedly Nouri's going to allow Anbar Province and Nineveh Province to vote July 4th (this shouldn't even be Nouri's call and the two provinces should have voted last month). State of Law will lose those as well.

So after Iraq's 17 provinces vote? State of Law will be able to claim only 7 provinces. That might be impressive if there were only, say, 10 provinces in Iraq. But 7 isn't half of the total to vote.

(I would love to see Kirkuk vote this year but nouri's refusal to implement Article 140 of the Constitution most likely means Kirkuk will yet again not be able to vote.)

So way less than half of the provinces supported State of Law and then just by the tiniest of margins.

No, this was not a successful election for State of Law.

Tuesday, April 23rd,
Nouri al-Maliki's federal forces stormed a sit-in in Hawija, Kirkuk. Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk) announced 50
activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault. The Hawija massacre continues to bring bad news for Nouri.

BAGHDAD, 4 May 2013 – “UNICEF has received
substantial and credible information that up to eight children have been
killed and up to 12 others seriously injured during violence in Hawija,
near the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, on 23 April 2013.“Among those reported to have been injured – all boys between the
ages of 14 and 17 – several were said to have received severe gunshot
wounds. “UNICEF is extremely concerned about these reports and has requested the Government of Iraq to urgently investigate these cases.“Children must be protected against all forms of violence and the
Government needs to do more to actively promote and establish effective
child protection policies, laws and systems.“Children and their families in Iraq continue to bear the brunt of
the violence and instability currently escalating across the country.”

The slaughter the western media didn't want to cover. It happened two weeks ago. (And CNN, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times did cover it in real time in the US.) But it was only last week that it began to be mentioned by most US outlets.

Now we learn it claimed the lives of 8 children and left twelve injured.

The American media needs to play catch up real damn quick.

If they can't quit pimping war on Syria long enough, they might want to try to cover Iraq for a day or two.

It rained in Wasit Province. Heavy rains. What does that mean? All Iraq News explains displace families as a result of the flooding: "Dozens of families were forced to evacuate their residences leaving their livestock behind, heading towards Sheikh Saad district of southern Wasit province since their villages and their mud-hut houses were swept due to rain floods." As we were noting yesterday, "Anytime heavy rains are forecast, various areas of Iraq have to worry
about flooding because Nouri's failed in his seven years as prime
minister to fix the sewage system." Alsumaria notes that the International Red Crescent Society has helped over 200 families today in Maysan Province who also saw the heavy rains flood their streets and homes.

The following community sites -- plus Tavis Smiley, Guardian, Adam Kokesh, Antiwar.com, the Pacifica Evening News and Cindy Sheehan -- updated last night and this morning including Cedric's "The Grand Chief of Devils" which isn't showing up yet on the links to the right yet:

The Third Estate Sunday Review will not be work-safe tomorrow. I said I'd note it on Saturday if that were the case. It is.

We'll be running questionable screensnaps. We're not covering butts, but we have taken the screensnaps to Windows Paint and erased vaginas, breasts and cocks (using the eraser feature -- so you have white blocks). The article's about censorship (we've actually got a second draft already), about one outlet censoring an editorial cartoon claiming it didn't meet their guidelines but their guidelines aren't even enforced as we demonstrate with various screensnaps.

So you have been warned.

I'm going to quickly answer a few e-mails in this entry.

A visitor is furious with me because I didn't cover the KRG this past week. I have no problem with that criticism. It is more than accurate. The KRG was barely noted. Where we disagree is the visitor is having a fit about "the power grab" of Massoud Barzani. Barzani is the President of the KRG. This is his second time being it. That meets the term limits.

The visitor notes "all the press on Barzani and how he's going to break that." Yeah, I saw a lot of that in the press too.

But there's news and there's gossip. And Barzani hadn't made a statement.

So what you were reading was speculation and gossip. That I deliberately ignored. Had it been a slow week on Iraq, we probably would have pulled it in and I probably would have noted it was speculation and also pointed out that, considering Barzani's position, I would be surprised if he sought a third term.

But it is true that the KRG gets slighted -- not just this week but most weeks. That's because we're covering what's going wrong and the KRG is so stable and peaceful when compared with the rest of Iraq.

Nouri's got a lot of blood on his hands. Ammar Karim (AFP) reported this morning
that the 'magic' wands to 'detect' bombs (and
drugs and, no doubt, spirits from the other world) are still being used
in Iraq. He speaks with a police officer in Baghdad who admits that
everyone knows that they don't work but that the police are under orders
to use the wands.[. . .]After the wands have been ruled a fraud and the maker and seller of them
has been sentenced, Nouri's still making police officers use these
devices that do nothing?This is grounds for removal from office. This is incompetence at the highest level.It also means the Iraqi government just lost the ability to sue for
James McCormick or his company for any damages. By using them today,
this is no longer, "We were defrauded! We didn't know!" Now you're
into the "buyer beware" category. (The Parliament might have standing
and groups representing Iraqis who lost loved ones should have standing
but Nouri, the Council of Ministers -- which he heads -- and the
Ministry of Interior and the Ministry Defense -- ibid -- should have
just lost standing to sue.)

In the public account, there's an e-mail insisting that "no one would think this was Nouri's fault" and that a court wouldn't say Nouri couldn't sue. It wouldn't?

That's your opinion. I offered mine. I could be wrong. My opinion is that when you know that the wands don't work, when you know that the seller has been found guilty in a court of law of fraud and you continue to use them, a court's going to examine that and wonder why? Now a court can decide anything for any reason. So the visitor may be right that a court would grant Nouri standing to sue. We'll see.

On the issue of no one thinking this was Nouri's fault?

Today NINA reports, "Leader of the Sadrist Trend, Muqtada al-Sadr, demanded Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to apologize and stand before Parliament to answer about the deal of the explosives detection instruments." Last time I checked, Moqtada al-Sadr was a cleric and a movement leader. I would say he was some one. Moqtada also wants the British government to hand the man who made and sold the wands over to Iraq where he can be executed since he "caused the death of thousands of Iraqis." Moqtada suspects some Iraqis were bribed in this deal and wants names he also demands that the 'magic' wands stop being used immediately stating that they are "an insult to the Iraqis' intelligence."

Another e-mail notes the US Congressional Research Service report by Kenneth Katzman "Iraq: Politics, Governance, and Human Rights" that we've covered in two snapshots so far. The e-mailer used the link and read the report and writes that she is "just really shocked by how much has gone in Iraq that the American media really hasn't gotten across to the people." I agree that it is shocking. I hope as many people as possible will read the report. From time to time, The NewsHour (PBS) has Katzman on as a guest to discuss findings and reports. In a perfect world, they'd bring him on ask him basic things like, "What are the biggest misconceptions about Iraq?" Sort of a TV version of Rajiv Chandrasekaran's "Five myths about Iraq" (Washington Post).

And that's going to be it. I'm tired. Ava and I watched five episodes of a TV show for our review this week and have already done our phone calls (two actors who left the show, one who was on the show and a former producer of the show). So all we have to do is write it. We're also going to be doing a piece on sexism that we've got a rough outline on (Ava and I are doing). And as I noted, we all worked on the censorship story and put it through two drafts already.

I'm going to do the other entry and then I'm going to try to take a nap before we get started working on the edition.

Friday, May 03, 2013

Friday, May 3, 2013. Chaos and violence continue, the protests continue, Nouri continues to order the use of the 'magic' wands in Baghdad, calls emerge for Nouri to leave office, worshipers at a mosque face a bombing, and more.

Replace Nouri? In today's New York Times, Nussaibah Younis makes the case for that with "Why Maliki must go" -- which we'll get to in a minute. In yesterday's snapshot, we noted former US Ambassador Ryan Crocker had a column (Washington Post) which is mistaken beyond means. I argued:While the key moments of betrayal did not happen on his watch (it was
under the dithering idiot Chris Hill), you cannot act, in 2013, as if
talk will bring back the progress of 2010. We'll address that at length
tomorrow. As with the issue of US forces in Iraq, it's one of those
topics we have to keep going back to because so few will ever bother to
cover it. The shortest version is when you make a deal in 2010 and one
party (Nouri) fails to honor it, you can't show three years later and
say, "Well let's just talk and try to progress." No, we don't reset the
clock. If there is to be progress in 2013, the first step is honoring
the contract that was signed in 2010.

He proposes everyone just talk and:

Last week, the US Congressional Research Service published "Iraq: Politics, Governance, and Human Rights." The report was written by Kenneth Katzman. We're noting the section on the 2010 elections and The Erbil Agreement:Part of the difficulty forming a government after the election was the close result, and the dramatic implications of gaining or retaining power in Iraq, where politics is often seen as a "winner take all" proposition. In accordance with timelines established in the Constitution, the newly elected COR [Council of Representatives, Parliament] convened on June 15, 2020, but the session ended after less than a half hour without electing a COR leadership team. The various factions made little progress through August 2010, as Maliki insisted he remain prime minister for another term and remained in a caretaker role. The United States stepped up its involvement in political talks, but it was Iraqi politics that led the factions out of an impasse. On October 1, 2010, Maliki received the backing of most of the 40 COR Sadrist deputies. The United States reportedly was concerned that Maliki might form a government with Sadrist support. The Administration ultimately backed a second Maliki term, although continuing to demand that Maliki form a broad-based government inclusive of Sunni leaders. Illustrating the degree to which the Kurds reclaimed their former role of "kingmakers," Maliki, Allawi, and other Iraqi leaders met in the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government-administered region in Irbil on November 8, 2010, to continue to negotiate on a new government. (Sadr did not attend the meeting in Irbil, but ISCI/Iraq National Alliance slate leader Ammar Al Hakim did.) On November 10, 2010, with reported direct intervention by President Obama, the "Irbil Agreement" was reached in which (1) Allawi agreed to support Maliki and Talabani to remain in their offices for another term; (2) Iraqiyya would be extensively represented in government -- one of its figures would become COR Speaker, another would be defense minister, and another (presumably Allawi himself) would chair an oversight body called the "National Council for Strategic Policies," and (3) amending the de-Baathification laws that had barred some Iraqis, such as Saleh al-Mutlaq, from holding political positions. Observers praised the agreement because it included all major factions and was signed with KRG President Masoud Barzani and then U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey in attendance. The agreement did not specify concessions to the Sadr faction.

We've address The Erbil Agreement over and over. Like US troops still in Iraq, it's one of those topics that results in drive-by readers e-mailing to insist (a) it never happened and (b) the US was in no way involved in it.

The Erbil Agreement ended the 8 month political stalemate that followed the 2010 elections. It's the legal contract, brokered by the US, that allowed those not supporting Nouri to throw in their support in exchange for legally defined within the contract terms. The KRG, for example, was supposed to get the census and referendum in Kirkuk (promised in Article 140 of the Constitution but that Nouri refused to move on in his first term). Another promise was that an independent national security council would be created and Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi would head it. (Iraqiya won the 2010 elections; Nouri's State of Law came in second. He refused to honor the election results and step down which created the political stalemate that lasted 8 months.)

Let's point out that this move by Nouri was not a surprise. In the lead-up to the 2010 elections, US Gen Ray Odierno was warning this could happen but the White House elected not to listen to him. They backed the idiot Chris Hill who was then US Ambassador to Iraq. Hill didn't even want Odierno speaking to the media and the White House went along with that as well. Odierno warned what could happen. The idiot and unqualified Hill (and we noted he was an unqualified and an idiot when we reported on his confirmation hearing -- see the March 25, 2009 snapshot and the March 26th snapshot) and the White House that courted and coddled him are responsible for what went down in 2010. And you can read more about that and how it took Odierno going to then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates after the 2010 parliamentary election and Gates bringing then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in on their conversation for Odierno to get the audience with the administration that he should have received automatically by reading Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor's The Endgame.

Barack was an idiot to have shut General Ray Odierno, the top-US commander in Iraq, out of the conversation. To his credit, when approached by Gates and Clinton (and faced with ongoing political stalemate and Chris Hill's inability to answer basic questions about it), Barack did act quickly to replace the idiot. Which is how you had James Jeffrey quickly nominated to be the new US Ambassador to Iraq with a confirmation hearing taking place July 20, 2010. That said, in our reporting on Hill's confirmation, we noted he was unqualified, we noted he had no understanding of the issues. The 15 or so months he was allowed to be ambassador to Iraq were a disaster whose repercussions are still felt today.

Ryan Crocker was the US Ambassador to Iraq immediately before Chris Hill. He was nominated by Bully Boy Bush and, after Barack was elected in 2008, Crocker offered to stay on until a replacement could be found.

As Betty noted last night, Iraq got coverage (finally) on The NewsHour (PBS -- all links to the program that follow are text, audio and video). Betty covered the segment on the violence. The other segment was Ray Suarez moderating a discussion about the state of Iraq featuring Ryan Crocker and former Iraqi Deputy Ambassadot to the UN (2004 to 2007) Feisal Istrabadi.

Istrabadi starts out noting the basic problem ("Nouri al-Maliki himself has been asserting greater and greater control over the instrumentalities of the state, and I -- and has been unable or unwilling to enter or execute the compromises") to which Crocker quickly agrees ("I think Feisal is right, Ray."). Crocker mentions the slaughter in Hawija (last week, a peaceful sit-in was attacked by Nouri's forces leaving 50 dead and 110 injured) but feels this is a "signal for Iraqis of all sects and ethnicities to take a very deep breath" -- no, that's not how it works in a functioning society. A despot does not launch a massacre and the response is, "Let's take a deep breath." While you're taking that deep breath, you're likely to be stormed the same way the sit-in in Hawija was.

As Betty did on Wednesday, Feisal Istrabadi noted some contents of the US diplomatic tookbox that the US could be using to influence events. Crocker wants US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to act as mediators. But for what purpose?

I agree they should be mediating. But Crocker's column in the Post offers this notion that things can be healed with talking.

No. The Erbil Agreement was a legally binding contract (that the White House swore had its full support and backing). Nouri used it to become prime minister and then tossed it aside refusing to honor it. Since 2011, the Kurds, Iraqiya and Moqtada al-Sadr have been calling for Nouri to implement The Erbil Agreement and he has refused.

You can't trust someone like that. Forget for the moment that The Erbil Agreement is like every other promise Nouri makes (including the "100 Days To End Corruption" promise to the Iraqi people of February 2011) in that he gets attention and praise for a proposal but never follows up on it.

The Erbil Agreement ended up a political stalemate. It was a legal contract. Nouri used just enough of it to get what he wanted (a second term as prime minister) and then trashed it. And has refused to implement even when called on to do so.

How do you trust someone who refuses to honor a contract?

You can not hit the re-set button and start all over on this. It doesn't work that way.

It is not as if 2010, the political leaders in Iraq said, "Nouri, grab the post of prime minister -- that you didn't win -- and we'll work out what we want in exchange and get back to you."

Everything was drawn up in the contract. Everything was stated clearly. Everything was agreed to. And Nouri started implementing the contract and kept it moving long enough to get his second term and then refused to follow it and implement the other provisions.

Nouri owns a home and you give him $125,000 for it and he signs it over to you but he refuses to move out of it. You keep calling, "Hey, Nouri when are you going to vacate the premises? You know there's a date for that in the contract but you've exceeded it." You wait for over two years for him to turn over the house you paid for. He refuses. You're looking for a new house and find the perfect one. You love it but turns out Nouri owns this one too. Are you really going to trust him again?

Only if you're crazy.

There's not a re-set button after he refused to honor the contract. Not only did he refuse to honor it, but the contract outlined a power-sharing government and Nouri has spent the last months insulting such a government, saying it is not functional and insisting that he will have a majority government. (Him having a majority government is difficult when he came in second place.)

So there's no reason to trust him. He doesn't honor a contract, he doesn't support a power-sharing government.

Noting the possibility that Iraq could split up into three independent governing bodies under some loose system of federalism, Jim Muir (BBC News) reminds:

The government led by Nouri Maliki was supposed to be one of national partnership. Under a power-sharing deal brokered by Kurdish leader Masoud
Barzani, the man whose Iraqiyya coalition actually came out ahead of Mr
Maliki in the polls, Iyyad Allawi (a secular Shia who garnered most of
the Sunni vote), was supposed to head a "Higher National Strategy
Council" with considerable powers. None of that happened. Instead of being seen as a partner, Mr
Maliki has been accused increasingly of going it alone with autocratic
powers stemming from his control of the entire security apparatus,
including the defence and interior ministries. Sunni participation has been increasingly marginalised and
opinion alienated by Mr Maliki's failure to address key Sunni demands
and complaints, especially relating to the release of detainees,
counter-terrorism laws, job opportunities etc.

You'd have to be the stupidest person in the world to say, "Okay, let's all start over." There is no starting over. His record is firmly established so that at this point, if you go into an agreement with him, you better know that when he (again) breaks it, no one wants to hear you whine.

[Bernard Gwertzman:] Why can't Maliki make peace with the Sunni political leadership so that things can calm down?

[Ned Parker:] Well, that's the issue: Today, you can make the
argument that you have troops now surrounding two cities, Fallujah and
Ramadi, which were a hotbed for the insurgency against the Americans and
later a base for al-Qaeda. So there is a tense standoff there, and I
suppose you can attribute or credit to local leaders; they have worked
out an initial understanding with the Iraqi military to try to ease the
situation where there are some people inside of Ramadi who killed five
Iraqi soldiers last Saturday. But the problem is, whether on the local
level or on the national level, there is no real consensus or trust
between the sides to bring the situation under control. So politics
exist in the vacuum of mistrust, and if harsh decisions are made, very
quickly you go from calm into a crisis. And each crisis is worse than
the last. So tentative channels can be established for communications,
but without bold action, inevitably things will boil over.

After The Erbil Agreement gave Nouri everything he wanted and he refused to honor his side of the contract, it's not at all surprising that there is no trust.

But if Mr. Maliki, who took office in 2006, had a successful first term,
he has squandered the opportunity to heal the nation in his second
term, which began in 2010. He has taken a hard sectarian line on
security and political challenges. He has resisted integrating Sunnis
into the army. He has accused senior Sunni politicians of being
terrorists, hounded them from power and lost the cooperation of the
Sunni community. The result: the political bargain that had sustained
the fragile Iraqi state broke down.

Today, resurgent terrorist groups have killed hundreds of moderate
Sunnis who once fought them, and are offering others a grim chance to
save their lives — by “repenting” and joining the extremists.

Meanwhile, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, remains in exile, having fled and then been given a death sentence in absentia on charges of terrorism. Similar moves to charge Finance Minister Rafe al-Essawi,
a moderate Sunni, led to the protests that have now engulfed Iraq’s
Sunni heartland and alienated other communities. An army attack on a
protest encampment last week brought only wider violence.

The last sentence refers to Hawija. Tuesday, April 23rd,
Nouri al-Maliki's federal forces stormed a sit-in in Hawija, Kirkuk. Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk) announced 50
activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault. Last night, Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) reported, "Iraqi security used disproportionate force, including shooting unarmed
civilians, during a raid on an encampment of Sunni Arab protesters last
week that left 45 people dead, according to two government
investigations and foreign diplomats." Parker quotes an unnamed "foreign official" who states, "It became a vendetta out of all proportions.… This was carnage." And this is on Nouri. Parker quotes 'acting minister of defense' stating the people were "terrorists." There is no acting minister of defense.

The Constitution of Iraq does not recognize "acting" minister. You're a minister or you're not. How do you head a ministry? The Prime Minister (or prime minister-designate) nominates you to the Parliament and you win enough votes for confirmation from the Parliament. Once that happens, you're in unless you want to go because the Prime Minister can't fire you, only the Parliament can and that's by a vote. (Nouri's repeatedly asked the Parliment to strip Tareq al-Hashemi of the title of Vice President. The Parliament's refused to do so.)

Back in July, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed,
"Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting
power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions,
including the ministers of defense, interior and national security,
while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support." Again, let's pull from Kenneth Katzman's latest report to the US Congress, "Iraq: Politics, Governance, and Human Rights" (Congressional Research Service) on what happened after The Erbil Agreement, "As for the State of Law list, Maliki remained prime minister, and retained for himself the Defense, Interior, and National Security (minister of state) posts pending permanent nominees for those positions." To be clear, Parliament has not rejected any nominee. Nouri has never nominated people for these posts in his second term. Struan Stevenson heads the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq and notes in a column for UPI today: "In a subsequent agreement signed in the presence of the U.S. ambassador
to Iraq (The Erbil Agreement), Maliki agreed to appoint representatives
from Allawi's faction into key government posts as ministers of defense,
interior and security. In fact he has never done so and his office
maintains full authority over the army, police and intelligence
services, giving him virtual dictatorial powers."

Yes, it all comes back to that. The Erbil Agreement was not a minor document. There is no 'acting' minister of defense. Why would Nouri have 'acting'? Because he has no respect for the Constitution or for legal contracts. But also because it's a power-grab (as Iraqiya rightly labeled it back in January of 2011).

Nouri puts you in as "acting" Minister of Defense. You do what he tells you. If you fail to or if you disagree or if decides you're not loyal, he kicks you out. And there's nothing you can do because you don't have a position that's defined in the Constitution. By contrast, if he nominates you to be the Minister of Defense and the Parliament votes you into office, you then control your ministry unless Parliament votes to remove you.

So the flunky who pretends to be in charge of the Minister of Defense does what Nouri tells him too. Which means Nouri is responsible for the slaughter in Hawija.

Equally true, the 'acting' moron who declared the people taking part in the sit-in to be all 'terrorists'? He was using the same terminology that Nouri had used the week prior.

Kitabat reports
that tribal leaders in Dhi Qar have signed a letter apologizing to
activists. For what? For Nouri's "abusive verbal attack" on them.
Nouri gave a little speech where he called the peaceful activists
lawless rebels and threatened to use force against them. Peaceful
protests have been going on across Iraq, peaceful protests against
Nouri, since December.
They aren't the only ones condemning Nouri for those remarks. NINA notes
that Osama al-Nujaifi's party has condemned the remarks and called for
Nouri to stop verbally attacking demonstrators and return to Baghdad to
oversea security issues. Osama al-Nujaifi is part of the Iraqiya
political slate but this was his Motahedoon Coalition issuing the
condemnation. Iraqiya also condemned the remarks. Maysoun al-Damlouji, Iraqiya spokesperson, is quoted by NINA stating,
"Describing our honorable people who peacefully demonstrate across Iraq
demanding their legitimate rights as conspirators is the ugliest words
you can use against the oppressed people." Iraqiya MP Ahmed al-Alwani added that Nouri's attacks on demonstrators "incite sectarian strife."
Even Nouri's new bride Saleh al-Mutlaq is calling out the remarks leading Kitabat to wonder
if the honeymoon is over for Nouri and Saleh or if this is just more
propaganda from Saleh in an attempt to boost the votes for the National
Dialogue Front?

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have gathered in the squares of six
Iraqi cities since the last week of December. During 120 days of public
protest against sectarian discrimination and persecution carried out by
Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's regime, the demonstrators, along with
their supporting scholars, dignitaries and tribal leaders, were keen on
keeping the protests peaceful. Despite the hardships faced by the
protesters, with the regime ignoring their demands, not one government
institution has been attacked and no officials have been harmed.
However, the Prime Minister, known for his fascist ideas and obsession
with domination, power and direct control over the security agencies,
especially the army, had different ideas.From the very beginning, Al-Maliki mocked the Popular Movement and
the crowd in the streets of Fallujah, Ramadi, Samarra, Mosul and other
cities. He described the protesters as sectarian, Ba'athists and
terrorists, and threatened them. In Fallujah, Al-Maliki instructed his
forces to tackle the protestors, causing a number of deaths and
injuries.However, the clarity of purpose and awareness of what the Prime
Minister had sought to do drove the people of Fallujah to lick their
wounds and underline the peacefulness of the c. Even so, the harassment
of demonstrators by security forces and the army did not stop; in
Samarra, the prime minister's forces used violence and weapons against
protesters.However, what was witnessed in the “freedom” square in the city of
Hawija in the early hours of Tuesday, April 23 was something different.
Without warning, while most of the people of the city and the protesters
were still asleep, the army and security forces associated with the
prime minister's office stormed the square with armoured vehicles, heavy
machine guns and helicopters. Within moments, the protest camp was a
war zone. More than hundred protesters were wounded and dozens were
killed of people; some, claimed eyewitnesses, were executed in the
field. In the days after the sneak attack by Al-Maliki's forces tensions
remained high.

Nouri's got a lot of blood on his hands. Ammar Karim (AFP) reported this morning
that the 'magic' wands to 'detect' bombs (and
drugs and, no doubt, spirits from the other world) are still being used
in Iraq. He speaks with a police officer in Baghdad who admits that
everyone knows that they don't work but that the police are under orders
to use the wands.

At the start of November 2009, Rod Nordland (New York Times) reported
on these 'bomb detectors' in use in Iraq: "The small hand-held wand, with a
telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints
in Iraq. But the device works 'on the same principle as a Ouija board'
-- the power of suggestion -- said a retired United States Air Force
officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more
than an explosive divining rod." That's when the wands should have ceased being used in Iraq. But that didn't happen. Dropping back to January 25, 2010:

Riyad Mohammed and Rod Norldand (New York Times) reported on Saturday that
the reaction in Iraq was outrage from officials and they quote MP Ammar
Tuma stating, "This company not only caused grave and massive losses of
funds, but it has caused grave and massive losses of the lives of
innocent Iraqi civilians, by the hundreds and thousands, from attacks
that we thought we were immune to because we have this device." Despite
the turn of events, the machines continue to be used in Iraq but 'now'
an investigation into them will take place orded by Nouri. As opposed to
months ago when they were first called into question. Muhanad Mohammed (Reuters) adds that members of Parliament were calling for an end to use of the machines on Saturday. Martin Chulov (Guardian) notes the US military has long -- and publicly -- decried the use of the machines, "The US military
has been scathing, claiming the wands contained only a chip to detect
theft from stores. The claim was based on a study released in June by US
military scientists, using x-ray and laboratory analysis, which was
passed on to Iraqi officials."

And still the wands were used. April 23rd (see the April 24, 2013 snapshot), the man who made and sold the wands, who was on trial for those wands, was pronounced guilty on three counts of fraud. And still Nouri has allowed -- no, insisted that the wands be used.

Yesterday, McCormick was sentenced to a maxium of 10 years. Jake Ryan (Sun) quoted
Judge Richard Hone stating, "The device was useless, the profit
outrageous and your culpability as a fraudster has to be placed in the
highest category. Your profits were obscene. You have neither insight,
shame or any sense of remorse."

Guess who else has neither insight, shame or any sense of remorse?

Nouri al-Maliki.

Robert Booth (Guardian) noted
yesterday that Saad al-Muttalibi ("adviser to Nouri al-Maliki) is insisting Nouri's
considering suing on behalf of the victims. We noted, "Actually, the families of
the victims should be suing Nouri for allowing those things to be used
for the last years, even after the wands were globally revealed to be a
joke."

After the wands have been ruled a fraud and the maker and seller of them has been sentenced, Nouri's still making police officers use these devices that do nothing?

This is grounds for removal from office. This is incompetence at the highest level.

It also means the Iraqi government just lost the ability to sue for James McCormick or his company for any damages. By using them today, this is no longer, "We were defrauded! We didn't know!" Now you're into the "buyer beware" category. (The Parliament might have standing and groups representing Iraqis who lost loved ones should have standing but Nouri, the Council of Ministers -- which he heads -- and the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry Defense -- ibid -- should have just lost standing to sue.)

So, to be clear, not only has he wasted a fortune on 'magic' wands but he's made Iraq unsafer. If you're the police or whatever force and you're using the 'magic' wand to detect a bomb and it comes back 'negative,' I believe you then move on to the next car. You've done your 'test.' You've stood beside or behind the car and jogged in place (how, supposedly, the 'magic' wand is activated) and nothing happened so you waive the car on.

Without the 'magic' wands, that time would be spent searching a car. A search might or might not discover a bomb but it would have a better chance of finding one. (As would bomb sniffing dogs.) Back in October,
Al Mada noted that Parliament's Security and Defense Commission was budgeting for explosive detectors and bomb sniffing dogs. It's a shame Nouri couldn't have led on the issue.

October 9th,
with much fanfare, Nouri signed a $4.2 billion dollar weapons deal with
Russia. He strutted and preened and was so proud of himself. Yet
shortly after taking his bows on the world stage and with Parliament and
others raising objections, Nouri quickly announced the deal was off.
The scandal, however, refuses to go away. TheIraq Times stated
Nouri was offering up his former spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh and
others to protect the truly corrupt -- the truly corrupt -- according to
members of Parliament -- including Nouri's son who got a nice little
slice off the deal. These charges came from Shi'ite MPs as well as
Sunnis and Kurds. Even the Shi'ite National Alliance has spoken
out. All Iraq News noted
National Alliance member and one-time MP Wael Abdul Latif is calling
for Nouri to quickly bring charges against those involved in the
corruption. (The arms deal is now treated by the Iraqi press as corrupt
and not allegedly corrupt, FYI.) Latif remains a major player in the
National Alliance and the National Alliance has backed Nouri during his
second term. With his current hold on power reportedly tenous and
having already lost the support of Moqtada al-Sadr, Nouri really can't
afford to tick off the National Alliance as well. Kitabat reported
MP Maha al-Douri, of Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc in Parliament, is saying
Nouri's on a list of officials bribed by Russia for the deal.

So, see there, he's led Iraq to topping the corruption index. And, as we noted yesterday, Iraq just topped Committee to Protect Journalists' 2013 Impunity Index -- kill any journalist in Nouri's Iraq and never fear that you might be arrested.

He's also 'led' on increasing violence in Iraq. Yesterday, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported
the United Nations have released their figures for the month of April:
712 people killed in violence and 1,633 left injured. Basing it on
their own figures, the UN declares last month to have been the most
deadly in Iraq in five years. Vivienne Nunis (Voice of Russia) notes the UN figures and speaks with AFP's Mohamad Ali Harissi who states:

To be honest, you have to be lucky to stay alive here. People, the Iraqis, they open their door and just before they go out to work they pray so they come back safe because you can be in the street and suddenly there will be a car bomb next to you and you will be killed.People here they live by chance you know. The one who stays alive is lucky. It's really a mess and it's really sad because people die every day. And for what, for nothing you know?

We're wrapping up. But Elaine pointed out Wednesday night that Policy Mic, writing about the protests in Iraq, was unable (like so many others) to note that one thing fueling them has been the rape and torture of females in Iraqi prisons. This has happened with so many outlets. So it's worth noting that Struan Stevenson was able to note it in his column for UPI: "Arbitrary arrests, constant executions and torture of prisoners --
particularly the torture and rape of female detainees, have increased to
such an extent that Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and even
the European Parliament have formally objected." We'll close with this from ETAN:

May 3,
2013 - The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) and West Papua
Advocacy Team (WPAT) strongly urge the U.S. government to condemn the
unwarranted assault by Indonesian government security forces on peaceful May 1
demonstrations in West Papua. They called for U.S. security assistance to be
curtailed, absent an end to such egregious human rights violations and credible
prosecution and sentencing of the perpetrators of these crimes among Indonesia's
military, police, and "anti-terror" forces. Widespread nonviolent Papuan protests commemorating the 50th anniversary
of the United Nations 1963 handover of West Papua to Indonesian control were met
with security force brutality. At least two West Papuans were killed; many more
were wounded and/or detained.

On May 2, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
“expressed serious concerns over the crackdown on mass demonstrations across
Papua." Her statement said "These latest incidents are unfortunate examples of
the ongoing suppression of freedom of expression and excessive use of force in
Papua. I urge the Government of Indonesia to allow peaceful protest and hold
accountable those involved in abuses.

ETAN and WPAT, noting the close
relations and expanding security relationship between Washington and Jakarta,
call on President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to press the
Indonesian government to end its suppression of freedom of expression in West
Papua and to hold those responsible for violence against civilian demonstrators
accountable before civilian courts.

The U.S. should also urge Indonesia
to allow visits by UN Human Rights Special Rapporteurs, as the Indonesian
Government agreed to do in late 2012, and more generally end restrictions on
travel there by international observers. The planned
visit by Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection
of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, remains stalled over
Indonesian government restrictions that would prevent him from visiting
political prisoners in West Papua and elsewhere.

ETAN and WPAT also urge
the appropriate committees and subcommittees of the U.S. Congress to hold
hearings examining the impact of expanding security ties between the U.S. and
Indonesia and possible violations of the Leahy law. This is especially urgent
given the continuing and even worsening violations of human rights by the
Indonesian military and other security forces targeting Papuans seeking to
exercise rights guaranteed them by international treaties and covenants.
Legislation to curtail or fully suspend this assistance should be on the agenda
for such hearings.

The latest attacks are the latest human rights
violations that have continued unabated since Indonesia took control of the
territory 50 years. These crimes are part of a larger pattern of repression and
impunity perpetrated by troops and police armed and trained by the U.S.

This statement is also supported by the West Papua Action
Network.

ETAN was formed in 1991. The U.S.-based organization advocates
for democracy, justice and human rights for Timor-Leste, West Papua and
Indonesia. ETAN on the web: http://www.etan.org. Twitter: etan009. The West Papua Advocacy
Team is a U.S.-based NGO composed of academics, human rights defenders and a
retired U.S. diplomat. Both organizations co-publish the monthly West Papua
Report. http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm

And Nouri appears to have been successful in threatening the press. That's what the 'closure' notices were about, silencing the media, cowing them. The way you respond to a thug like Nouri is not by refusing to cover the protests, it's by increasing the coverage of the protests. Iraqi media has stood alone in truly covering these protests. The western media played it safe and offered excuses ('I was stopped at a checkpoint!' -- as if they didn't know enough to be in a square before the checkpoints were set up). Now it will be interesting to see whether the thug gets his way. It's a real shame that the western media can't step up to the plate and give the Iraqi media the support they need but the only real bravery in the media covering Iraq has been Iraq's homegrown media.

Angered at critics in the press who have highlighted the spiraling
violence and human rights abuse in Iraq, Maliki has banned al-Jazeera
and nine Iraqi TV channels, eight of which are Sunni. Without licenses,
news crews from the banned channels will be arrested if they attempt to
operate in Iraq.
Iraq's descent into another sectarian civil war, prompted by Maliki's
determined efforts to marginalize the Sunni population, has become an
embarrassment to the United States, which regard the Iraqi prime
minister as their adopted son.
U.S. State Department assertions that they were leaving behind a
"functioning democracy," following the withdrawal of American troops
from Iraq, now have a hollow ring.
Mass demonstrations against Maliki have been going on in six of Iraq's
provinces and most of the major cities for the past four months.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters are pouring onto the streets,
particularly following Friday prayers, to demand an end to sectarian
oppression, human rights abuse and arbitrary executions.

The pass the world press has given Nouri repeatedly is appalling. He's used that pass to continue his attacks on protesters and on the press. What sort of future will Iraq have if this continues? If you can't speak the truth without being attacked by Nouri's forces and you can't report the truth without being shut down by Nouri's forces, what kind of future does that leave?

Nussaibah Younis makes the case "Why Maliki must go" in a column for the New York Times which concludes:

If all of these countries could persuade Mr. Maliki to resign, it would
give moderate Sunnis a symbolic victory and dampen extremist influence
in their community. That, in turn, could show all Iraqis that change can
be achieved through politics, rather than war.

Iraq’s parliamentary democracy could survive a resignation. It is normal
for a prime minister to step down and be replaced by another figure
elected by Parliament. There are other capable Shiite politicians who
could recruit and lead a national-unity government.

A decade after Saddam Hussein’s fall, violence threatens to overwhelm
Iraq. Getting Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to cooperate with the
United States on a new political bargain there, with Mr. Maliki out of
the picture, won’t be easy, but it’s essential to save Iraq.

Nouri can't provide anything. There are said to be fuel shortages (for generators) in Baghdad. Oil-rich Iraq with fuel shortages? Electricity is still not fixed, all these years later. Anytime heavy rains are forecast, various areas of Iraq have to worry about flooding because Nouri's failed in his seven years as prime minister to fix the sewage system. Iraqis still aren't guaranteed potable (safe drinking) water. He's accomplished nothing including failing to provide security.

Yesterday, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported
the United Nations have released their figures for the month of April:
712 people killed in violence and 1,633 left injured. Basing it on
their own figures, the UN declares last month to have been the most
deadly in Iraq in five years.

Ammar Karim (AFP) has a report with explosive implications (plural). The wands to 'detect' bombs (and drugs and, no doubt, spirits from the other world) are still being used in Iraq. He speaks with a police officer in Baghdad who admits that everyone knows that they don't work but that the police are under orders to use the wands.

At the start of November 2009, Rod Nordland (New York Times) reported
on these 'bomb detectors' in use in Iraq: "The small hand-held wand, with a
telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints
in Iraq. But the device works 'on the same principle as a Ouija board'
-- the power of suggestion -- said a retired United States Air Force
officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wantd as nothing more
than an explosive divining rod."

Riyad Mohammed and Rod Norldand (New York Times) reported on Saturday that
the reaction in Iraq was outrage from officials and they quote MP Ammar
Tuma stating, "This company not only caused grave and massive losses of
funds, but it has caused grave and massive losses of the lives of
innocent Iraqi civilians, by the hundreds and thousands, from attacks
that we thought we were immune to because we have this device." Despite
the turn of events, the machines continue to be used in Iraq but 'now'
an investigation into them will take place orded by Nouri. As opposed to
months ago when they were first called into question. Muhanad Mohammed (Reuters) adds that members of Parliament were calling for an end to use of the machines on Saturday. Martin Chulov (Guardian) notes the US military has long -- and publicly -- decried the use of the machines, "The US military
has been scathing, claiming the wands contained only a chip to detect
theft from stores. The claim was based on a study released in June by US
military scientists, using x-ray and laboratory analysis, which was
passed on to Iraqi officials."

Onto England. Yesterday, Melanie Hall (Telegraph of London) reported
that the "useless devices, based on novelty golf-ball finders worth
less than 13 pounds," were sold to "the Iraqi government, the United
Nations, Kenyan police, Hong Kong prison service, the Egyptian army,
Thailand's border control and Saudi Arabia" for "as much as 27,000
pounds." 13 pounds today would be about $19.86 US dollars. 27,000
pounds? $41,247.83 US dollars. A device that cost less than 20 dollars
to make was sold at about a 2,000% mark up -- the greed and the
duplicity are usually intertwined. But what was so worthless? The
'bomb detectors.' These are the devices that are a wand you hold and
you then stand by or behind something (like a car) and basically jog in
place and the wand, magically, let's you know if there's a bomb or not. [. . .]The wands didn't work, they were never going to work. The liar who sold
them, and got rich off them, Jim McCormick, was convicted yesterday. Robert Booth and Meirion Jones (Guardian) report, "A jury at the Old Bailey found Jim McCormick, 57, from near Taunton, Somerset, guilty on three counts of fraud
over a scam that included the sale of £55m of devices based on a
novelty golfball finder to Iraq. They were installed at checkpoints in
Baghdad through which car bombs and suicide bombers passed, killing
hundreds of civilians. Last month they remained in use at checkpoints across the Iraqi capital."

Yesterday, McCormick was sentenced to a maxium of 10 years. Jake Ryan (Sun) quoted
Judge Richard Hone stating, "The device was useless, the profit
outrageous and your culpability as a fraudster has to be placed in the
highest category. Your profits were obscene. You have neither insight,
shame or any sense of remorse."

Guess who else has neither insight, shame or any sense of remorse?

Nouri al-Maliki.

Robert Booth (Guardian) noted
yesterday that Saad al-Muttalibi ("adviser to Nouri al-Maliki) is insisting Nouri's
considering suing on behalf of the victims. We noted, "Actually, the families of
the victims should be suing Nouri for allowing those things to be used
for the last years, even after the wands were globally revealed to be a
joke."

That was bad enough.

But now AFP reports that the wands are still being used. That police are unders to use them?

This is clearly Nouri al-Maliki's fault because he is prime minister. Though they were exposed as fraudulent in 2009, he continued to allow them to be used and even while his adviser says Nouri's thinking about suing, Nouri's still allowing them to be used.

The police issue means it's not just the prime minister. Orders for the police in Baghdad would come from the Minister of the Interior.

So that means the prime minister shares the blame with the Minister of the Interior.

The sad news for Nouri is that his paranoia that convinced him there would be a coup, the paranoia that led to his power-grab at the start of his second term, means he's the Minister of the Interior.

He's never nominated anyone for that post. That means he controls it. Back in July, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed,
"Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting
power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions,
including the ministers of defense, interior and national security,
while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."

Last month, Transparency International's Leah Wawro observed, "The hundreds that are estimated to have died because of these useless
devices are the most visible victims of this crime. But the impact of
this type of systemic, high-level corruption extends beyond that
immediate loss of life. A quick glance at the UNDP website for Iraq
shows how bad services are for normal Iraqis: 75% identify poverty as
the most pressing need; 20% of Iraqis cannot read or write; just 26% of
the population has access to the public sewage network. Would those
numbers, and lives, be different if that £55 million had been spent in a
transparent way on education, infrastructure, and enterprise? How many
lives could have been saved if the £55million the Iraqi government
wasted were spent on effective bomb detection mechanisms?"

Those are questions that now need to be directed to Nouri al-Maliki.

He has put -- and continues to put -- Iraqis at risk with the use of these 'magic' wands.

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.